Partisan Budget Package Threatens Nation’s Health and Well-Being to Fund Attacks on Families

EL PASO, TEXAS — The United States House of Representatives narrowly passed a budget package Thursday that makes deep cuts to health and social services, especially for U.S. citizens and people in immigrant families. Almost every House Republican and no Democrats supported the cuts.

“House Democrats voted to protect the families and communities they serve,” said PIF director Adriana Cadena. “Republicans voted to take health care, food, and other lifelines from their own constituents to fund Trump’s agenda of tax cuts for billionaires and family separation.”

The House-passed package would cut more than $700 billion over 10 years from Medicare, Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act’s Marketplace insurance, and other health programs. It also cuts hundreds of billions from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly “Food Stamps”), the Child Tax Credit, and other key anti-poverty initiatives.

The bill’s safety net cuts specifically target immigrant families. Importantly, while House Republicans often talk about the package as a response to illegal immigration, people who are undocumented are already excluded from federally funded safety net programs under current law. In fact, the cuts Republicans voted for only deny health and social services to lawfully-present immigrants and U.S. citizens – overwhelmingly children – in immigrant families.

“The Trump administration and House Republicans are lying to you,” said Cadena. “They say this is about ‘illegal immigration,’ but they’re targeting millions of U.S. citizen children in immigrant families.”

Budget reconciliation legislation is exempt from filibuster in the U.S. Senate, making it easier to pass legislation that might otherwise fail to garner the 60-vote supermajority required for other legislation. But the slim Republican majority in the Senate means the radical package is not considered a lock for passage in that chamber.